I have to put this out there since apparently people don’t pay attention and it’s frustrating as all hell. I had found a picture via Hawaii Military Pets, of a man in uniform skydiving with his pooch and proceeded to share it to my page. I think it’s a cool picture, and I’ll post it at the end of this.

The controversy that has suddenly sprung up on my page, was that of it being cruel, “f*cking stupid, among other extremely critical and non-logical things. So, lets clear the air shall we?

Military working dogs are a breed of their own. They are specifically trained to perform extreme tasks, compared to civilian training which can consist of simply “sit” and “stay”. This dogs are dual certified in explosive detection, or EDDs, and patrol. This means these dogs are trained to attack on command or to protect themselves or their handlers (Training War Dogs, 2012).

With EDDs, these pooches are trained to identify nine different explosive odors in different areas including barracks, theaters, warehouses, luggage, and vehicles. Once they have passed their certification, they are trained on patrol. Patrol for these pooches differs greatly between police dogs. Military dogs patrol training consists of obedience, an obedience course, out and guard, building searches, and scouting. Out and guard is technique to train the pooches on false runs, false runs into a bite, search and attack, escort, and to stand-off. They are trained to attack a suspect and stay in front of the suspect, watching them until the handler is able to detain the suspect. After this rigorous training, they are bonded to their handler, and then the work begins. That’s a heck of a job for a military dog.

Parachuting is not a new thing for MWD’s (Military Working Dogs, FYI). Around 1935, an issue of Popular Science Magazine ran an article about the training parachuting dogs.

In 1980, there was another issue ran about the Army training dogs for the rigors of parachute jumps (Ricks. T.E., 2012).

Another great example is that of a Dog named Cairo, and a dog who should be honored, since he helped take down Osama bin Laden. Cairo’s job was to find anyone trying to escape the raid, and sparked an interest in MWD’s.

Now onto the “skydiving” dogs.

Skydiving military dogs are trained for this, and are very well taken care of on their decent back to earth. These dogs are used on raids very often, just as Cairo was a part of. They have specially outfitted gear for the parachuting adventure, and are set in gear so as they will not be injured. Heck, there’s even dogs that jump straight out of helicopters with no gear at all!

Now, with that being said, why is it any different from Otis, the pug, a civilian pet, who has skydived over 60 times? I have no idea… I guess it’s cute for him, but not for the dogs that are hard-working to help our military members.

I am just frustrated and disgusted with how people feel that military pets are abused, treated poorly, or are euthanized after their tours of duty. It’s all false. Dogs have been bred as a working class. They were bred to hunt out critters in holes, seek out foxes, assist with guarding sheep, guard families, perform for police, and even for the purpose of warming our feet on chilly nights. So the fact is that these dogs are given the opportunity to do what they were bred to do, to work. They are given loving handlers who befriend them and protect them, they are given retirement ceremonies, and are adopted once their tours of duty are over. These dogs are commendable soldiers, and vital for our military over seas. I know I would adopt one of these loyal friends in a heartbeat if given the chance.

So. Now that we have that cleared up… Questions?

I’ve attached numerous articles, and I have also attached photos of these wonderful working dogs in action, and of their retirement.

My life. Ugh. End of story. It’s so stressful. I was married previously to a jerk who was in the Army, he was stationed in Germany and I was stuck behind in South Dakota, alone and pregnant, but I did fine. I believe it was the thought that I had done everything else in my life for so long all alone, and the fact that I knew he was truly nothing to me. He treated me like the scum under his boot, and caused me to go into premature labor. This second time around to being married in the military is so much harder. I married my best friend, a person I’ve known and cared about for years and am now stuck in a town 10x as big as Rapid City, and alone with only him as a friend. I’ve made 2 friends, and both are leaving to go to another post, and I’m afraid to make any new friends since we will be stationed some place new in November. It’s a hard concept to wrap my head around, that all friends I make I will sooner or later have to say goodbye. I left for my daughter’s visitation 2 weeks before he had to leave, he left 3 days before we arrived back home, and been gone ever since. The first time I spoke to him was last night via Facebook but for a very short period of time. They have been gone a total of 3 weeks now. My daughter is driving me crazy, and all I do is sit and think. Think about if he is okay, eating well, sleeping alright. Think about the next deployment and how much harder it is going to be. I was with him on his second deployment, and the third is coming up soon. There is that rumor he wont be going, will be staying behind to help things out here since we are leaving shortly after the deployment begins but it’s not for sure… My life has completely changed since we had eloped. I have no job and stay at home all day, when all I know is work. I’ve never been so bored of life.

I remember the last deployment I was driving to Sioux Falls to visit some friends, and I received a phone call that said I needed to pull over. They told me that there was a possibility that something happened to him, his dad had hung a flag in his yard and some officers went to his door. I panicked. It was a short lived rumor once I reached his brother. But it was one of the most horrifying moments in my life. It’s amazing what a simple rumor that friends will start will cause, the heartbreak I felt and the relief that washed over me when the rumor was dis banned. It really does suck. It hurts and it’s terrifying. But I am a strong person, and I need to keep my mind open to possibilities of where our new life will take us.

This life is one of many things. Fantastic yet horrible, uplifting but so depressing, reassuring yet terrifying. It’s something that all military spouses must go through. The thought that their loved one may not come home, or may be leaving for long periods of time missing vital times in their child’s life. Or that their soldier would come home with such horrible post traumatic stress disorder that they must be hospitalized. Most people don’t realize that we the spouses go through a lot with our loved ones, that we are soldiers in our own way as well. We have to be strong and positive for our loved ones and be there whenever we are needed. We are bombarded with protesters, as if we have the right to say “no” to war, no to helping other countries regain their lives. Without our soldiers there may be no peace or rights for us as the people in this country. If soldiers had a choice, I can almost promise you they are there to help, and if given the opportunity to come back to their loved ones, they would do it in a heart beat.